CORONAVIRUS OUTBREAK

1. Introduction

1.1 Background of Gabon

Gabon is a west central country in Africa and it is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean, Equatorial Guinea, Cameroon and the Congo. The country has attributed to have high income per capita since it has large oil money.

France took the control over Gabon and its capital in in 1839. Then Gabon could be gained its independence from France in 1960. The government of Gabon started as one party state with the independence and establishea a new constitution. Therefore it was broght multi-party demcracy to Gabon in 1991.

Currently, Gabon is consisted of 13 new national parks which attracted about 11% of the country area. The forests and wildlife are protected by these parks from logging and other illegal activities. The long and sandy coastal area of Gabon boasts palm-fringed bays, estuaries, and lagoons while this makes the country a center of lush tropical vegetation. So Gabon has natural resources. The natural environment and the natural resources has come up to the reason for attracting the tourists.

Scenic white beaches, massive wildlife such as gorillas, elephants, panthers , and parrots find refuge in the bountiful forests of Gabon. The people who lived in coastal areas, villages, and settlements near the many rivers. Interestingly, the rivers of Gabon serve as the main communication routes are called as Bantu people in Gabon.

Bantu tribes are composed of Fang, Eshira, Mbele, and Okande. These tribes still enjoy the more rural way of life and there are only a few native Gabonese live in towns.

Libreville, Port Gentil, Moanda, Mouilla, Franceville, Oyem, and Lambaréné are the major cities of Gabon.

1.1.1 culture

France poses an influential role in he entire culture of Gabon. The extreme French influence in the country’s culture can be seen in the way Gabonese writers express themselves in exclusive French. A closer study of Gabon culture will provide students with an interesting pre-colonial history and traditions practiced by Gabonese. The epics have had a great impact in the country as the major tribes of Gabon specifically the Fang dominated the art and culture of the Bantu civilizations.

Newspapers in Gabon are written in French and the media, including the national and provincial radio stations use French in broadcasting. However, local languages are still prevalent and television broadcasting for instance airs programs and shows in local languages. Publications written in French are distributed immensely across the country and most of the television program are relayed in French—talk about French deeply-rooted influence.

There are 40 identified ethnic groups in Gabon and Fang comprised the largest group. Teke, Pounou, and Eshira are the other large groups. Gabon still conducts ceremonial traditions but they vary from tribe or group. Each group is distinct from one another as each has specific personality.

At present, Gabon has an approximately 1.5 million population and there are equal number of men and women. The 60% of the population lives in the city while the remaining 40% resides in the villages. Currently, many Africans from other countries go to Gabon to find work opportunities. For the record, French is the national language of Gabon and it is spoken by the majority of Gabonese under the age of fifty.

Finally, Gabon music and folklore are worth exploring if one wants to get a clear grasp of Gabon culture.

1.1.2 Languages

French is the official language of Gabon and it is also the medium of instruction. There were only a few numbers of Gaboneses who can speak French during the World War II and they either work in the government or manage their own business. When France sought universal primary education, all its African territories were ordered to learn French. Between 1960 and 1961, approximately 47% of Gabonese over 14 years of age speaks French. In the same year, 13% of the population is considered literate in the language. During the 1990s, about 60% of Gabonese speaks French.

Those who have reached secondary and higher education are fluent in using the French language. Around one-third of Libreville’s population—the country’s capital— are native French speakers. It is said that France influence and culture remains in the country as seen on its foreign and commercial establishments. Based on statistics, there are around 10,000 French residing in Gabon.

Gabon’s three largest languages include: Fang, Sira (Eshira), and Mbere.

1.1.3 Education

The education system of Republic of Gabon is primarily patterned from French education. However, changes and developments are being made that will meet the needs of Gabonese and their tradition. Education is of high priority for the government and this is proven by the construction of various rural schools across the country.

Children aged 6 to 16 are required to pursue their basic education and it is free education. Based on statistics conducted in 1996, there were 1,147 primary schools and the recorded number of enrolled students is 250,683 with 4,943 teachers. In secondary level there are 80,552 students and 3,094 teachers. In 1999, the ratio for the number of teacher to pupil is 1 to 44. Adult literacy program is provided by the government. Based on records, Gabon has a 36.8% of adult illiteracy rate in 1995. The projection is that: by year 2000 the illiteracy rate will decrease to 29.2% where 20.2% are males and 37.8% are females.

Half of the number of schools in the country are supported by the church or are privately-operated. The government has spent an estimated 3.3% of the country’s GDP in 1999 for public expenditure on education. Gabon’s higher education level like the Omar Bongo University in Libreville provides degree programs in faculties of law, letters, sciences, engineering, forestry, administration and management. The general baccalaureates include: French language, philosophy, mathematics, economy, physics, earth sciences and biological sciences. Up to the present, French still remains the language of education in Gabon.

1.1.4 Health and Safety

Health services in Gabon are mainly given by public institutions though there are also private institutions that provide health care services. The most popular hospital in the country is the one recognized in Lambaréné by Albert Schweitzer which was established in 1913. It is being subsidized by the government. In terms of medical infrastructure, Gabon beats that of other Western African countries. There were 28 hospitals during 1985, 87 medical centers, and 312 dispensaries and infirmaries. There were approximately 29 physicians per 100,000 people as of 2004.

Most Gabonese, an estimated 90% in number have access to health care services provided by the government. Moreover, 70% of Gabonese has access to safe drinking water and when it comes to adequate sanitation, there is an estimated 21%. With the government’s comprehensive health care programs and activities, people suffering from diseases like leprosy, malaria, sleeping disorders, intestinal worms, tuberculosis, and others are provided with medical care.

In 1960 up to 2000, the total fertility rate in Gabon has decreased from 5.8 to 4.2 children per mother. The maternal mortality rate was 520 per 100,000 live births which were recorded in 1998. The infant mortality rate in 2005 was 55.35 per 1,000 live births wherein the life expectancy was 55.02 years. On the contrary, the mortality rate was approximately 17.6 per 1,000 people.

Though medical facilities remain to be limited in most rural areas of Gabon, the government is doing its part to provide Gabonese with comprehensive medical services as well.

1.2 Visualization of the Gabon

1.3 Climate condition

Tropical climate is in the year-round of the Gabon and That is always hot and humid, with up to 25°C (77°F) an average temperature and 80% humidity. This can be happened due to the country geographic location since it is part of western Africa and it borders the Atlantic Ocean at the Equator between Equatorial Guinea and the Republic of Congo. The Atlantic Ocean at 0 meter, lowest point and Mont Iboundji at 1575 m, highest point are the elevation extremes of Gabon.

Dry month of the Gabon can be mentioned as June, July, and August while the rainy season is from October to May. Thus, in terms of clothing, lightweight tropical wear is prevalent during the dry season and raincoats are advised to be worn during the rainy season. However, rainfall in Gabon varies, with an annual average of 120 inches or 3,050 millimeters in the capital Libreville. On the northwest coast, the average rainfall is 150 inches between October and April. May to September has little rainfall while the humidity remains high.

During the small dry season in Gabon, one can expect clear blue sky with very little rainfall. Heavy rainfall but warm temperature mark the long wet season of the country. The long dry season on the other hand which takes place from May to September has no rain with smooth mornings. The small raining season gives Gabonese heavy rainfalls followed by sunshine.

The absence of rain in Gabon means a very good opportunity for photography among tourists and the Gabonese people. Taking photos can be fun during the small raining season because colors tend to be bright and the nature is always a good subject.

1.4 Lock-down status of the country

Covid-19 is not just like a local pandemic it is a global pandemic and whole world has critical time period with this pandemic. Covid-19 infections begun from 2019 with the 1st covid 19 infected patient was confirmed in Wohan, China. As COVID-19 infections began to be reported around the world and many countries responded by shutting down places like schools, workplaces and international borders in order to contain the spread of the virus.

Gabon, as all oil exporters, is being hit by two shocks—the global impacts of COVID-19 and the decline in oil prices last year. Government policy is responding to both these developments. The first confirmed COVID-19 case was reported on March 12, 2020.

  • First case confirmed : March 12, 2020

Authorities have been following WHO-recommended measures and enhancing them over time and they have taken early action attempting to suppress COVID19. The primary measures, which included bans on social gatherings and travel restrictions have been enhanced over time to closing all borders, the air space, imposing a night curfew and a full lockdown in Libreville since Easter Sunday, as cases started to increase.

Since April 27 2020, some of these measures were relaxed including the full lockdown in Libreville, they decided to Reopen of the economy. A second reopening wave started on July 1 with the reopening of commercial flights twice per week per company from Libreville and a reduced night curfew from 8pm till 5am. Since mid-August commercial flights were further relaxed to three flights per company per week departing from Gabon. Public schools reopened on November 7, 2020. All passengers arriving in Libreville’s airport from abroad must show a negative test performed in the last five days. At arrival, they are once more tested by Gabonese authorities in the airport for posterior tracing. On October 10, a new round of relaxation of the preventive measures was announced, allowing restaurants and religious centers to resume activity and shortening the night curfew from 10pm till 5am. Such gradual reopening of the economy was based on a comprehensive-testing strategy with a capability of around 10,000 tests to be performed per day and with the equivalent of close to thirty percent of the population tested, making the country one with the highest rates of testing per capita of sub-Saharan Africa. The Gabonese parliament also launched at the end of the first semester a Parliamentary Inquire Committee to investigate the quality and transparency of the Covid-19 expenditures by the government. At the same time an aggressive second wave of infections has hit the country since mid-January 2021 and the preventive measures have been strengthened. The night curfew has been re-enlarged from 6 pm until 5am, causing business to close around 3pm. The capital, Libreville, has been put in confinement for domestic travelers and only two international flights per company can land in Gabon per week again. Masks became compulsory for the population above 5 years-old and restaurants and shops must demand a negative test from clients within the last seven days. The social-distancing measures announced in mid-January 2021 have been somewhat relaxed on May 29, 2021, with the recent decline in the number of infections and active cases in the country. With such slowdown of the Covid-19 second wave, the authorities shortened the night curfew to start at 9pm instead of 6pm. All night bars and restaurants can now reopen up to 8:30pm with the requirement of requesting vaccination proofs or PCR tests (within one week) from clients. Finally, passengers coming from abroad will need to show a Covid-19 vaccination card. Otherwise, they will need to quarantine for 48 hours in a hotel indicated by the government. Meanwhile on March 12, 2021, the government received in Libreville the donation of 100,000 doses of the Sinopharm vaccine from Chinese authorities. A second batch with 300,000 doses of Synopharm vaccine donations from Chinese authorities arrived in Libreville on May 9, 2021. On June 9, 2021, Gabon further acquired 10,000 doses of the Russian Sputnik V vaccine. Vaccination started on March 23, 2021 with the Minister of Health announcing a national vaccination strategy in which health workers dealing with Covid-19 and patients with severe comorbidities will be vaccinated first.

  • Reopening of the economy : April 27, 2020
  • A second reopening wave : July 1, 2020
  • Public schools reopened : November 7, 2020
  • a new round of relaxation : October 10, 2020(curfew from 10pm till 5am)
  • an aggressive second wave of infections : mid-January 2021 ( curfew from 6pm to 3am)

1.5 Actions taken by the government

The enactment of Gabon’s constitution took place in 1991. The constitution contains provisions regarding bill of rights. Gabon has governmental advisory board and the National Council of Democracy body which both determine which rights deal with economic and social issues. Between 1990 and 1991 elections of multi-party legislative were held in spite of the fact that opposition parties were not yet declared legal.

From 1967 to June 2009, President Omar Bongo Ondimba held the power and the Interior Ministry of Gabon provide figures stating the fact that 79.1% of votes were in favor of President Bongo. Upon his death, Rose Francine Rogombé, the then president of the Senate of Gabon took over as interim president.

People of Gabon at age 21 can participate in voting. The Constitution of Gabon which was amended in 2003 by the President removed the given restrictions regarding the number of terms a president should serve. One of the powers of the President is to dissolve National Assembly. The President’s strong power also enables him to declare a state of siege, initiate referendums, make appointments and dismissals of prime minister and members of the cabinet, and delay legislation.

Ali Ben Bongo was elected President, the son of the former President. As expected from any Gabonese elections, the opposition parties questioned the results. Boycotts and accusations were made against the administration.

In 2007, Gabon’s cabinet officially abolished death penalty in the country and this was announced by the government’s spokesperson. In terms of comprehensive measure of African Governance by Ibrahim Index, Gabon ranked 21st out of 53 African countries.

2. Exploratory Data Analysis

2.1 Structure of the data

Structure of the Dataset for Gabon country

The 2019 Novel Coronavirus COVID-19 (2019-nCoV) Dataset which is easily available as an installable package in RStudio is used to this analysis. Johns Hopkins University Center for Systems Science and Engineering (JHU CCSE) Coronavirus is the source of this data.

The dataset contains the daily summary of Coronavirus cases worldwide. All cases are recorded according to the following variables;

  • Date
  • Country
  • Province/state; if available
  • Latitude of center of geographic region defined by country/province
  • Longtitude of center of geographic region defined by country/province
  • Type of reported case – confirmed, death, recovered
  • Number of cases on given date

All records are available for the time period from 01 January 2020 to 19 September 2020.

The analysis were carry out based on the R statistical software languages and some of the images have been used in some websites.

The data set was used by wrangling and cleaning from the coronavirus dataset from 14 March 2020 to 04 August 2021 by removing missing values and the new variable is added by reshaping the filtered data set for the country Gabon. The new variable is,

  • Active
  • Daily incresed active

    The summary of the used data set is as bellow table. This data set is also changed as required for the analysis part.

Summary Data Table

Data summary
Name gabon_long
Number of rows 2545
Number of columns 7
_______________________
Column type frequency:
character 2
Date 1
numeric 4
________________________
Group variables None

Variable type: character

skim_variable n_missing complete_rate min max empty n_unique whitespace
country 0 1 5 5 0 1 0
type 0 1 5 21 0 5 0

Variable type: Date

skim_variable n_missing complete_rate min max median n_unique
date 0 1 2020-03-14 2021-08-04 2020-11-23 509

Variable type: numeric

skim_variable n_missing complete_rate mean sd p0 p25 p50 p75 p100 hist
lat 0 1 -0.80 0.00 -0.80 -0.80 -0.80 -0.80 -0.80 ▁▁▇▁▁
long 0 1 11.61 0.00 11.61 11.61 11.61 11.61 11.61 ▁▁▇▁▁
ID 0 1 255.00 146.96 1.00 128.00 255.00 382.00 509.00 ▇▇▇▇▇
cases 0 1 262.17 691.67 0.00 0.00 0.00 95.00 3371.00 ▇▁▁▁▁

The data set to the country comparison was filtered by coronavirus dataset, then it is created by wrangling and cleaning part using relavent R codes to get data. Here, replaced the misssing values cases by zero to get analysis.The data set was included data from 24 January 2020 to 11 September 2021.

Summary of the Dataset:Country Comparison

Data summary
Name mydata
Number of rows 671
Number of columns 7
_______________________
Column type frequency:
character 1
Date 1
numeric 5
________________________
Group variables None

Variable type: character

skim_variable n_missing complete_rate min max empty n_unique whitespace
country 0 1 4 24 0 8 0

Variable type: Date

skim_variable n_missing complete_rate min max median n_unique
date 0 1 2020-01-23 2021-09-17 2020-11-19 403

Variable type: numeric

skim_variable n_missing complete_rate mean sd p0 p25 p50 p75 p100 hist
lat 0 1 3.60 9.33 -11.20 -0.80 3.85 9.08 18.74 ▃▂▇▂▃
long 0 1 5.89 25.66 -70.16 10.27 11.50 17.87 20.94 ▁▁▁▁▇
confirmed 0 1 126.20 339.91 0.00 0.00 0.00 76.50 4394.00 ▇▁▁▁▁
death 0 1 1.66 5.09 0.00 0.00 0.00 1.00 68.00 ▇▁▁▁▁
recovered 0 1 97.27 330.07 0.00 0.00 0.00 22.50 4923.00 ▇▁▁▁▁

2.1 Visualization of death, confirmed, recovered, active cases

The perentage of total cases as of 04 August 2021 is shown in above figure. Then the figure data is shown that death percentage as of 04 August 2021 is 0.51. So Gabon country death count is very low and It may be happened due to the environment and government action they have taken to face the covid-19 pandemic. The recovered cases also very high that is the reason behind the lowest death percentage. As 04 August, still have 21.92 percentage count of active cases. We may assume that a higher percentage of active cases may be recovered.

Cumulative distribution of the Covid-19 cases of Gabon is represent in the above figure. According to the above figure,we can see though the cnfirmed cases is incread the daily active patient count is increased but not as much as increases of confirmed cases. The reason for that is also represented as recovered cases are also increased as much as confirmed cases. Since the new confirmed patients are recorded in a day, the count of patients who recovered by covid-19 infection are same as recorded cases but less a litle bit number of cases. The deaths are not significat number of cases.

This ghrap also cleary shows that the time series of cumulative cases according to the different types. The trend of active cases have same as confirmed cases and seasonal pattern also same as confirmed cases but there is a small different between the confirmed and daily active cases. At the beginning of the graph, all the cases have have begun with the zero. Around the May of 2020, the confirmed cases was begun to increase.But the recovered cases are informed to increase after the confirmed cases increases. Th

The data are shown aproximately same seasonal pattern. By the 15 of May 2020 shows the 1st peak level of the confirm cases of covid-19 affected people. It has shown 570 number of cases. Though the confirmed and recovered cases are not as much as different. Therefore deaths are not shown any pattern compared to the other cases. At the start point of the graph all the cases have at arount the zero level then it has increases with the tchanging trend which have increasing and decreasing pattern. However from the middle of the 2020, the covid -19 cases have represent as decreasing patten. Therefore confirmed cases have decreased around to 10 confirmed cases with the recovered cases around to 0. The risk of covid 19 pandemic was less with this confirmed causes. But again the second wave of covid-19 is start with the beginning of 20201 year. again the wave is increased untill March or April then the wave has decreased untill the day 04 August 2021.

confirmed cases has changing over day by day. But the active cases are shown abouve the confirmed cases with the two normality pattern. The patterns clearly shown with the time duration the 2020 whole year and 2021 until 04 August.

2.2 Comparison with other countries

Gabon is an african country which covered with some african countries. To the discuss about the covid-19 pandemic in country profile, its need to have a comparison with the pandemic situation of near countries as Covid-19 is a global pandemic and it has spreaded over countries wise. The infections of covid-19 is clearly depend on the action the government has taken and climates with the human behaviour as well. In this chapter is consist of the comparison between countries which near the Gabon. The countries can be mentioned as Central African Republic(CAR), Cameroon, Chad, Congo(Kinshasa), Dominican Republic(DRC), Angola, Equatorial Guinea, Nigeria.

According to the above Changes of Total Confirmed cases over Time: Comparison Between Countrie figure shows the total confirmed cases over time is less in a higher value in Gabon with compared to the Nigeria, domiican Republic. The total confirmed cases is higher in lesser number of cases in Gabon with compared to the Chad, Central African Republic, and Equatoral Guinea. Cameroon and Angola also have higher risk on confirmed cases compared to the Goban.

Total active cases of Gabon is approximately same with Chad, Central African Republic, and Equatoral Guinea. Other countries are shown higher risk by covid-19 than Gabon since they shows higher active cases.

All the compaired countries shows the approximately same relationship between Active cases and Total confirmed cases.

3. Conclusions and Discussion

Gabon is a beautiful with natural environmental country in Africa and it has covered with the countries Chad, Central African Republic, Equatoral Guinea, Cameroon and Angola. Compared to the these countries Gabon has less risk of covid-19 pandemic and the death rate also at the very low level. There were two waves of covid -19 infections. First wave has begun on March of 2020 and it has to end point at the ent of 2020 year. Then the second wave has moved on from the end of December in 2020 and the January in 2021. Recovered cases also have same pattern as confirmed cases. Therefore we can conclude that the There is higher percentage of recovering from covid 19 infection. The government has taken action for the facing this pandemic situation as strong country.

4.References

https://www.gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/gabon/coronavirus

https://travelhealthpro.org.uk/country/84/gabon#COVID-19

https://www.imf.org/en/Topics/imf-and-covid19/Policy-Responses-to-COVID-19#G

https://ga.usembassy.gov/u-s-citizen-services/coronavirus-update/

https://ourworldindata.org/coronavirus/country/gabon

https://hellor.netlify.app/coronareports/

COVID-19 Information | U.S. Embassy in Gabon (usembassy.gov)

https://ga.usembassy.gov/u-s-citizen-services/coronavirus-update/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/COVID-19_pandemic_in_Gabon

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/COVID-19_pandemic_in_Gabon

Study, Work, Volunteer and Travel in Gabon (studycountry.com)

A Brief History of Gabon (studycountry.com)

COVID-19 pandemic in Gabon - Wikipedia

COVID-19: Impact and Opportunities in Gabon (scirp.org)

The performance of routine immunization in selected African countries during the first six months of the COVID-19 pandemic (nih.gov)

Demographic and Clinical Characteristics Associated With Severity, Clinical Outcomes, and Mortality of COVID-19 Infection in Gabon | Cardiology | JAMA Network Open | JAMA Network